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Blog post by Michelle Page – Working safe for the moments that matter

October is Safe Work Australia Month, with this week marking Safe Work Australia Week from 27 – 31 October.

Last year, Safe Work Australia recorded the lowest number of work-related incidents and injuries to date. Yet despite this, the number is not zero and there are still employees who are injured carrying out their job.

The theme for this year is “work safe for the moments that matter” reminding us that the most important reason for workplace safety, is not at work at all.

For an organisation like aged care provider PresCare, this theme sits very well with their Safety 101, no injuries to anyone…ever campaign which is focussed on empowering staff to be proactive about their own safety so they can go home at the end of the day and enjoy their life outside of work.

They say a company’s greatest asset is its staff which is why workplace safety is paramount at PresCare. Earlier this year we underwent a systems audit of our Work Health and Safety System. As a result of the audit, we undertook a project to improve our Safety Management System to ensure it offers the highest support for all PresCare people to remain safe at work and help us meet our commitment to Zero Harm.

Step one in the project was updating our Work Health and Safety Policy to highlight our commitment to creating a positive safety culture within our workplaces and amongst our staff. To achieve a healthy and safe environment, at PresCare, we have a Work Health and Safety Management System for our activities that drive continual improvement.

The roll-out of PresCare’s new Safety Management System will feature in PresCare Safe Work Australia Week celebrations. PresCare will be holding a number of activities during the week across the organisation to demonstrate our commitment to improving health and safety, build a positive safety culture and provide a reminder to staff about why safety is important. The week is an opportunity to:

promote our new WHS policy

encourage employees to speak out on safety concerns

provide an open forum for new ideas to help reduce injuries

talk with new employees and young workers about the importance of health and safety and workplace inductions

get together with your supply chain partners to consider how you can work together to achieve a safer and healthier workplace for all employees

promote employee health and wellbeing.

After all, we believe that investing in workplace health and safety programs allows PresCare people to better understand the notion of safety to have the ability to make informed decisions to look after themselves and be able to live a life free from a debilitating workplace injury.